As fight fans now have a chance to see a short (very short) clip of the sparring sessions we’ve heard so much about, between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi, they also have a chance to listen to the MMA star’s latest prediction regarding his August 26 showdown with Floyd Mayweather.
Regarding the short clip of the sparring sessions: the clip does show Malignaggi going down, yet he appears to be off-balance and also helped down by a forearm, and the second the clip ends, Malignaggi is in the act of bouncing straight back up, clearly unhurt. Still, McGregor and his supporters are using the video clip as “proof” that he can box and that Mayweather will be in trouble, as was Malignaggi.
The obvious thing to do, would be to release full and unedited footage of the sparring the two had – as Malignaggi has tweeted. Don’t bet on it happening though. But McGregor continues to talk big ahead of the rich Las Vegas fight. After completing his latest workout in front of the media, McGregor said that if eight ounce gloves are permitted for the fight (this will be decided next week), he “gives Mayweather two rounds.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpanCz-5izE
But whether it’s eight or ten ounce gloves on August 26, McGregor is predicting a KO win either way.
“Trust me, if we’re eight ounces, I’m struggling to give him two rounds,” McGregor said. “That’s the God’s honest truth. The only reason I maybe give him two rounds is because in this game, the referee stops me pounding his head into the canvas and he gets ten seconds to recover. That’s the only reason he might get to the second round. If it’s ten ounces, maybe four rounds. I will knock him out bad – he is too small.”
Big words. Mayweather must be quivering in his boots. Or maybe he isn’t, sure as he is that McGregor will not get close enough to hit him and that even if he does, his blows will not be delivered in anywhere near an effective enough fashion to overly trouble him (think for a minute: if the two sizzling right hands the great Shane Mosley managed to belt Floyd with didn’t put him down, how can McGregor accomplish the job?)
Big money has been betted on the upcoming fight, but despite all the talk, all the hype and all the fuss, many fans remain as convinced as they were when the fight was first announced that there is no way a great boxer like Mayweather will possibly lose to a man making his boxing debut.
McGregor has vowed to win and then take over boxing. It’s now up to Floyd to put his vocal challenger in his place.